To Ease His Pain
by torchwood-passion
Summary: As Owen worked on Ianto, Jack stood above the autopsy bay, arms crossed. His jaw was set, as Owen dug the bullet out of his lover's shoulder. "Arh!" "Sorry, mate, but it's gotta come out." Ianto took a deep breath, biting his bottom lip. "Just get on with it!" Owen frowned. "Touchy."
1. Chapter 1

As Owen worked on Ianto, Jack stood above the autopsy bay, arms crossed. His jaw was set, as Owen dug the bullet out of his lover's shoulder.  
"Arh!"  
"Sorry, mate, but it's gotta come out."  
Ianto took a deep breath, biting his bottom lip. "Just get on with it!"  
Owen frowned. "Touchy."  
Digging a little deeper, Owen withdrew the tweezers, showing the offending bullet to Jack. "Got it!"  
Jack nodded, taking a deep breath himself.  
"I'll bandage him up and then you can take 'im 'ome."  
Ianto frowned. "No! I'm fine."  
"I'm your doctor and what I say goes. Home. At least a week."  
"A week!" Protested the Welshman. "You didn't have a week off when I shot you!"  
"I'm the doctor. I looked after myself. You need to let it heal, Ianto. You can't go out in the field injured. You can't clean up around here," he looked up at Jack. "and there is to be absolutely no sexual activity, got it?"  
Jack shrugged.  
Gwen tittered.  
"Shut it, Cooper!" said Owen.  
"Oow. Get him," she joked.  
Owen glared at her, then turned his attention back to Ianto. "Go home. Let the stitches do their work. Come back in a week. Not before." He moved to the cabinet behind him, taking out a white box. "Pain meds. Take two, four times a day. Don't exceed the dose. They're really strong."  
Ianto looked at Jack. "Do I have to?"  
Jack looked from Ianto to Owen and back to Ianto. "Yes."  
Ianto sighed with frustration.  
"Take two tablets and then get out of here!"  
Jack walked down the stairs to stand beside the autopsy table. "Just do as he says...Please."  
Ianto accepted the tablets and beaker of water from Owen and quickly took them. "I'll be as bored as hell!" He protested.  
Jack rubbed his arm. "I'll pop by every day."  
Owen scowled at him.  
"Just to make sure you don't need anything," he added quickly.  
Ianto shook his head. "I still have one good arm!"  
Jack pouted.  
"Oh, please. Grow up, Jack!" His lover chided.  
Jack turned on his heels and headed up to his office. "Tosh can drive you home."  
"Jack! Jack!"

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Tosh drove Ianto home in silence. She looked at her friend, but didn't say anything. What was there to be said? Ianto was pissed at Owen and Jack and nothing she said would change that.  
As they walked to the main door of his apartment block, Ianto forced a smile. "No need to see me upstairs, I'll be fine." He noted the concern on her beautiful face. "Really. I'm okay."  
"I hate leaving you like this."  
The Welshman sighed. "Tell Jack I'll see him in a week."  
"Ianto!"  
"A week, Tosh."  
Then he was gone.  
Tosh watched him walk to the lift, shake his head and push the door open leading to the stairs.  
'The lift must be out of order' she thought.  
Once in his flat, Ianto headed for the kitchen, filled a glass with water and took three more pain killers. He closed his eyes, as he swallowed them down. The throbbing in his shoulder was not getting any easier. Moving into the bedroom, he took off his now ruined jacket and shirt throwing them on the floor by the en suite bathroom, to be disposed of later. The sling was also dis-guarded, falling on top of his clothes. When he was naked, Ianto moved to lie on the bed, covering himself with the duvet. He tried to sleep, but the pain kept him awake.

TWTWTW

Jack mooched around the Hub, occasionally looking in the direction of the small kitchen. He was missing Ianto. Not because he made out-of-this-world coffee. Nor for the way he moved around so gracefully, but because...he loved him.  
'Hell! Where did that come from?' he thought.  
But it was true. He'd fallen for the beautiful Welshman. Maybe from the first time he set eyes on him.  
'Nah. That was lust, pure and simple'  
Either way, Jones Ianto Jones had stolen his heart.  
'That's why I was so pissed about Lisa! Why I scowled at him about who his 'last kiss' was with! I love him! I need to tell him'  
He started down the stairs, then stopped. All eyes were on him. He turned, made to walk back up to his office then turned again.  
"Dammit!"  
"Jack..." Began Tosh.  
Jack half smiled. "I need to see Ianto."  
"He said a week," she reminded him.  
"Crap," put in Owen. "Go see him."  
Jack didn't need to be told twice. He went back to his office, put on his coat and left by the invisible lift.  
"You shouldn't have encouraged him," Tosh admonished Owen. "Ianto doesn't want to see him."  
Owen smiled. "Or so he says."  
Gwen tutted.

TWTWTW

Ianto tried to get comfortable, now that the pills had taken effect.  
'Not bad' he thought. 'It took six to dull the pain!'  
He turned into his good side, pushed back the duvet and closed his eyes. Sleep took him easily.  
Jack fiddled with the key, as he stood outside Ianto's flat. Finally, he put it in the lock and turned it. It was silent. Silent as inside the flat. He made his way through to the living room. Saw the bareness of it; no pictures on the walls or mantel piece. Just a two seater sofa and old, over stuffed arm chair. No table or sideboard. The room looked unloved. Not lived in. He moved to the kitchen. Basic. Fridge freezer, microwave, kettle, coffee maker. Next, he went to the main bedroom. Ianto was sprawled on top of the bed, naked. Jack arched an eyebrow, covering the younger man with the dis-guarded sheet. Though he had to admit, the sight before him was amazingly beautiful in his eyes.  
Ianto stirred, drawing the sheet around him.  
"Hi," said Jack, softy.  
Ianto rubbed at his eyes. "Don't tell me I've been asleep for a week!"  
Jack shook his head. "No. I wanted to see you."  
Ianto sighed. "Not now Jack, yeah?"  
The older man sat on the side of the bed. "Owen is your doctor. He knows best."  
Ianto turned his head away. "Whatever."  
"I...need you, Ianto."  
Ianto looked at Jack. "There's always Starbucks!"  
Jack closed his eyes for a second and sighed. "I...love you, Ianto."  
"You what?"  
"I'm in love with you."  
Ianto sat up, pushed the duvet aside and went into the kitchen.

TBC 


	3. Chapter 3

Jack watched, closely, as Ianto padded naked into the kitchen. The young Welshman popped out 3 pain killers from their confines and put them in his mouth. Grabbing a glass, he filled it with water and drank it.  
'"Owen said they were strong." He noted the empty strip on the worktop. "Better go easy with them."  
Ianto placed his hands on his hips, standing defiant. "Is that my boss talking or my lover?"  
Jack shrugged. "Both."  
Ianto grinned. "Just leave, Jack. Please. I'll be back to work in a week, like Owen ordered, okay?" He turned his back on the immortal. "No sex, remember?"  
"I didn't come here for sex, Ianto. I came to tell you I love you!"  
"Right. You've told me."  
"And that means nothing to you?" He frowned.  
Ianto sighed heavily. "What the fuck do you want me to say, Jack? If you don't know by now how much I love you, well..." A shake of the head. "Just go, please. Go." He placed both hands on the counter-top and bowed his head. "I'd like to be alone."  
"I didn't come here to pick a fight..."  
Ianto filled the glass with water, grabbed the pain killers and walked into the bedroom. "I'm going back to bed. Close the door on your way out. Thanks." He closed the bedroom door.  
Jack thought about following, but changed his mind, heading for the front door instead. He slammed it behind him.  
In the bedroom, tears flowed down Ianto's face, as he took three more pain killers.  
'Fuck!'

TWTWTW

Jack sat in the SUV and slammed the palm of his hand against the steering wheel. He felt angry, frustrated with himself, that it went so badly.  
'Damn, that went well!' He thought. 'Shit!'  
He turned the ignition on, gunned the engine and drove off, heading back to the Hub.  
As he got off the invisible lift, Owen was waiting for him.  
"Well?"  
Jack walked straight passed him and up to his office. "He'll be back in a week." He closed the office door.  
"Something tells me that didn't go too well," said the medic.  
Gwen smiled.  
Tosh gave her a stern look. "You think this is a game, don't you? Well, it isn't!"  
Gwen backed up a few paces and held her hands up. "I didn't say anything!"  
"You didn't have to, I can see it in your eyes!" She moved from her workstation towards the kitchen. "You should be content with Rhys!"  
"Excuse me!"  
"You heard. Owen. Jack. Rhys. How many do you need?"  
Owen winced. "Come on, Tosh..."  
"Don't 'come on Tosh' me!"  
Jack appeared at his window, Tosh looked up at him. They exchanged a look. Jack nodded.  
Tosh got a metal box from the cupboard by the small dishwasher and took out some notes. "I'm going for coffee." She put the box back and left through the cog door.  
Gwen looked up, but Jack had gone. She sighed and went to her own workstation, picked up her bag and left.  
Owen raised an eyebrow, before leaving himself.  
Tosh came back with two paper cups from Starbucks, full of steaming coffee. She went up to Jack's office.  
"Have they gone? asked Jack.  
Toshiko nodded.  
Jack took the cup offered. "Thanks."  
"You know it'll be okay."  
Jack forced a smile. "Yeah."  
"He's just hurting. He'd rather be here than stuck at home alone."  
"He practically threw me out!"  
Tosh smiled. "Give him a couple of days."

TWTWTW

Ianto closed his eyes, trying to stem the flow of tears, but they kept coming. He lay on his good side in a fetal position, crying until he was exhausted.  
'Jack, what have I done?' he thought.  
Sleep claimed him.

TBC 


	4. Chapter 4

Ianto sat quietly on the bed, regretting what he'd said to Jack. He took three more tablets from the already half empty strip and took them with water. An hour later, as the pain killers began to take effect, Ianto began to feel really sick. He only just reached the bathroom, before emptying the contents of his stomach into the toilet bowl. His head felt like it was going to explode, as he retched for the fourth time. He sat down on the cold tile floor, leaning his back against the wall. His eyes watered, as he tried to focus. The room was spinning, as his stomach twisted and churned, causing him to vomit again. This times he missed the bowl and threw up over himself. He screwed up his face, as pain shot through his body. He sat back down again, drew his knees up to his chest and leaned his forehead against them.  
"Jack, I need you!"  
Crawling on all fours, the young Welshman made it to his suit jacket, retrieving his mobile phone.  
'Thank God Jack was on speed dial' he thought.  
Ianto pressed 1 and waited.

TWTWTW

Jack sipped at his second cup of coffee, as he stood looking out of his office window. He pulled a face at the bitterness of the beverage. Gwen and Owen had returned after an hour and were busy at their various workstations. He sighed, turned and sat back behind his desk. As he sat down, his phone began to ring. He recognised the caller ID straight away.  
"Ianto?"  
"Please, Jack...I...need you. Please!"  
The line went dead.  
"Ianto? Ianto!"  
Jack was out of his chair and putting on his coat in an instant. "Owen, with me.' He barked, taking the stairs two at a time.  
Owen stood up, grabbing his coat. "Where we going?"  
"Ianto's."  
"I'll get my bag."

TWTWTW

Ianto dropped the phone, as he fell sideways onto his injured shoulder. Pain radiated through him, as he passed out.  
The SUV slid to a holt, as Jack and Owen got out and entered Ianto's building. Jack cursed, seeing the 'Out of Order' sign still on the lift door.  
"Damn!"  
They headed for the stairs. Once outside Ianto's flat, Jack unlocked the door and they rushed inside.  
"Ianto!" Called Jack.  
They found him on the floor in the lounge. Seeing the state of him, Owen headed for the bathroom.  
"You get him to the bedroom. I'll get a wet cloth and towels."  
Jack picked him up as if he weighed nothing and carried him to the bed. The fact that he was covered in vomit, didn't faze the immortal.  
"He's overdosed," said Owen from the en suite. "I did warn him!"  
Jack nodded. "Yeah, so did I."  
"Let's get him cleaned up." He offered Jack the wash cloth. "I'll do the bathroom."  
Jack nodded. He carefully wiped the vomit from the younger man's face then dried it. Then he did his upper body. He half smiled, as he ran his fingers through the matted brown hair on Ianto's head. The Welshman began to stir, his eyes fluttering, trying to focus.  
"J-jack?"  
"Yeah."  
"I thought...my head...was going to...explode!"  
Jack caressed his face. "Too many pain killers."  
"I'm...sorry."  
"It's okay. We're here now."  
"We?"  
"You owe me, Tea Boy." Came a voice from the bathroom "Arh! I hate cleaning up vomit!"  
"Sorry."  
"You already said that."  
"It...hurts."  
"Owen?" This from Jack.  
"I'll give him some morphine, once the pain meds have cleared his system." He entered the bedroom."it's the best I can do." He turned to Jack. "You better stay here until morning, just in case," he told him.  
Jack nodded.  
"Maybe it's safer for him to be in work after all. We can keep an eye on him there." Owen added.  
Jack beamed.  
Ianto smiled. "Thank you."

FIN


End file.
